Temperature affects how people feel about the taste of their beverages and drinks. Good brands know this and use it to their advantage, while it becomes a painful liability for others.
Let me share a story about hot beverages.
I like hot chocolate more than I like coffee. Where I live, Starbucks offers the most consistently good hot chocolate. When I go to an entirely new place, like a new city and see a bunch of shop names I don't know, I tend to gravitate towards Starbucks. I don't think it's brand loyalty. But I do not like to be disappointed if I am spending Rs. 300-500 on a beverage, and I know Starbucks wouldn't disappoint me because it hasn't been done till now.
I recently had a layover at Delhi airport, and because I couldn't find where Starbucks was, I thought I would try Blue Tokai. It was clearly visible, and I had heard about it from multiple places. So I ordered hot chocolate. It was so hot it burned my gums. And it left a terrible aftertaste (maybe because it was so hot). Even after waiting 10 minutes to let it cool down, it was still way too hot. Starbucks hot chocolate is warm and just hot enough during first sip. It is drinkable and stays warm for the next 10- 15 minutes. The worst part is that Blue Tokai considers itself in the Starbucks category and prices its drinks similarly. Now, there's a chance it is a rogue franchisee who doesn't follow instructions, and if it was priced around Rs. 50-100, I might even try Blue Tokai at some other place. In this case, I am not willing to.
Let's now talk about cold beverages.
My friend's cousin runs a Sujata Mastani franchisee in Pune. An old brand, well known for its milkshakes, and they have expanded into more things now. He recently experimented with running slightly lower temperatures than the franchisee manual suggested. Setting the temperate too low gives brain freeze while setting it higher doesn't make it taste as good. It worked wonders. Mind you, they have the exact same drink as the rest of the franchisees but at different temperatures. They even experimented with different temperates at different times of day and at different seasons. The best part is that the franchisee performs better than the original store, which the founder of the Sujata Mastani runs. People prefer to go to this store rather than choose the one nearest to them.
Interesting, isn't it?